A ‘Dr. Evil’ Moment for House Republicans

The top photo is real, although a reasonable person might suspect it was manipulated (or posed?), so striking is the resemblance to the still from the 1997 comedy “Austin Powers,” featuring Mike Myers in one of his two roles, here, Dr. Evil. Who could forget the sycophantic Frau Farbissina, who conjured up the Fembots* with a sudden gutteral bellow that shook the walls? The shot at top was taken by a photographer named Chip Somodevilla and is licensed through Getty Images. House GOP members evidently are letting out their best “Dr. Evil” laugh right after voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) and to defund Planned Parenthood. MSNBC ran the photo with this caption, along with a story about Speaker of the House Paul Ryan:

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan shares a laugh with Republican members of Congress after signing legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and to cut off federal funding of Planned Parenthood during an enrollment ceremony in the Rayburn Room at the U.S. Capitol January 7, 2016.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

It is difficult or impossible for someone who is not a subscriber to the Getty photo service to ascertain the origin of the information used in the caption, but standard is for the photographer to supply the contextual information along with the photo: where and when it was taken, and what was going on. For all I know, Speaker Ryan prompted his colleagues to do their best Dr. Evil for the photographer.